Metime

Hi all, So last week I had a bug that was causing me to throw up. I immedately went to my surgeons office and had my fill removed because I was heaving with nothing coming up as it was being blocked by the band. At the time I had 9.3cc fill and they removed ~8cc. Leaving me with 1.3, so my chart says. She (the nurse practioner) just couldn't get that last 1.3 cc out because of a vacuum effect. I think that was what she said. So yestrday my Dr. went to fill me back up since I am better now. He was only able to put about 6 or 7 cc back in. I could feel the tightness around my stomach pouch. It was uncomfortable so he stopped. He never really explained why this is. Is this normal? I have never never felt a fill before (I never had a huge fill like this before either). It kind worried me that I felt it this time. Because he couldn't fill me completely back up and my Water felt funny going down, he had me do a barium swallow (yuck!) and everything looked fine to him. I'm just wondering why it would feel like that. I'm very disappointed that I didn't get filled all the way as I was finally feeling full after meals and now it will be another month before my next fill. Maybe I should not have said anything about it hurting while he was doing the fill. Sorry, may be a stupid question, but I feel better having asked it, since I stupidly didn't ask the Dr.

I have a 14 cc band and was at 9.3 cc at my highest. While my portion sizes are smaller, they were certainly not the 1 cup then done size. I could eat 3-4 chicken tenders, a cup of veggies, and still have room for a cup of carbs. I had all of it removed for a stomach virus and they were only able to fill it back up to like 6 or 7 cc now. So back to what I was before. I was banded in January and have a loooong way to go. /sigh Hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones and be filled rather quickly and get to your sweetspot. Good luck! Nicole

My nut said Calcium supplements 3x per day. But not at the same time as your Vitamin. Iron, I would have checked. Or you can add some spinach or other high iron foods to your diet.

Thanks for all the welcomes. Truely a great thread. I'm still able to eat a small meal and be satisfied for 4 hours. I don't feel the food like I used to, so I take it to mean that the swelling at least is gone. I still get a strange "side ache" if I slouch or twist the wrong way. Kind feels like I ran really far (as a kid, can't run 100 feet now) and you get that painful ache in your side. Only I wasn't running, just slouching. eh, it's better than that awful shoulder pain that is now gone (knocking furiously on my wooden desk!). Today was interesting. Very stressful at work, but so much to do, I had not time to eat. So Breakfast was a banana, snack was some graham crackers (3 squares) that I let kind soften and melt before I swallowed, lunch was a small pouch of tuna with a tablespoon of mayo and one of relish. dinner was an issue. My husband wanted to go out to dinner. In my usual way, I said "don't worry about me, I'll figure it out". And I did. I did cave with the fried green Beans (my fav!) and had about 6 of them. Then for dinner I had a turkey burger, sans bun, with tomato and ketchup and a side of brocolli. Not knowing what is in the turkey burger, it was probably bad. But my redeeming part is that it wasn't the sweet gooey ribs that I usually order or a juicy steak. I was surprised once again by the fact that I did not eat all before I got that satisfied feeling. maybe 3/4 of the turkey patty and all of the tomatoes and about 1/2 cup of the brocolli. My husband (who is still not "pro-band") keeps asking me "But are you satisfied? You didn't eat anything". Gah, I sure feel like I did. I'm done. Honest! Glad to be home. Need to just relax and let the day at work go before I start it all up again tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great day! Nicole

Yes, likely you will need to complete a few dr appointments, sleep study, psych evaluation, nutritionist, along with the requirements that your personal doc provide a letter of medical necessity. I would ask them to start scheduleing these appointments while you wait. My insurance (blue cross blue sheild of ma) doesn't even want to know about you until you have fulfilled all those requirements. Then and only then can it be submitted for approval. My approval came in a couple days and then I had to wait about 14 days (10 days of pre op diet included) before my surgery was scheduled. Read read read. Wrap your mind around the restrictions. Like, many folk can't eat bread, meats (like steak or pork), Pasta, rice etc. Some people can, but if you are one that can't, don't wait until you find that out to wrap your mind around it. Assume you can't, then if you can you will get a happy surprise. Start evaluating your eating habits. Do you graze? Why? Do you binge? Why? Start thinking about life being banded. Some of these things, while talked about all the time on this website come as a big surprise. Educate yourself during this waiting time and start to think of life being banded. It will make your journey that much more positive!! Good luck!!

I don't have the massive weight loss that some people are stating, but that could be because I am very bad at food tracking. Think I need to get back in the habit of that, at least for a little while. I hope I'm one of the lucky ones. Why do I feel guilty saying that?! Anyway, thanks for the welcome Elfie, your posts are the ones I tend to read on a regular basis! Thanks!! Nicole

Well I'm about 2 weeks post op. I've had my staples removed and boy was that a relief. What I find strange is that from day one, I have felt "satisfaction" at the end of a 1/2-1 cup meal. I am still on "mushies" and am very careful with what I eat. I make sure to get my 60-70 grams of Protein. I take my Vitamins daily including a B-12 sublingual. I am very bad at remembering my Calcium, but tend to eat alot of calcium items (cottage cheese, cheese, 1%milk etc) so I think I'm not doing too much damage there. (could be wrong) So my question, my worry, is will this go away? I'm not doing "bandster hell" and worried that with my ease so far this is going to come crashing down on me. In the hospital the doc said I was "very snug" and I can still feel things going through the band (like my pills I have to swallow etc). Could I still be swollen at this point? I have no more pain anywhere, not even with a sneeze or cough. So far I LOVE my band. I don't want that love to go away. Nicole

LOL, so the proof to my words were shown today. Negative posts get responded to, positive not so much. There are 3 posts that are "2 weeks post op". Two of them are postive (mine one of them) and one is negative. My post has one reply, the other none, the negative 11 replies. It's sad really. Anyway, I love the positive nature of this thread.

Hi All, I'd like to join this thread. I have been posting and lurking on the lbt for a while, but the site seems to be going so negative. I was actually afraid to post a postitive post because people just don't want to hear it. They just want to complain. I'm about 2 weeks post op and have lost 18 pounds so far. Very happy with the number. Just got my staples out yesterday and so much more comfortable. My food intake has been about a cup a meal, and it holds me for 3-4 hours. Um...no fill? It's a bit odd and scary that the roof will colapse and I'll be in banster hell like everyone else. But I'm happy with the now. Ok, off and running. Took me all morning (shh don't tell work) to read up on this thread. Happy to join!! Nicole

I am about 2 weeks post op. This is hard to answer as everyone seems to have a different recovery time. I personally took 4 days sick time (had surgery on Tuesday) and worked at home the week following. I needed every bit of those 4 days and the weekend to be at a point I could sit at my desk. Likely if I had an easy commute (my commute is 1.5 hours each way, with 2 trains and a 4 block walk and lots of stairs) I could have gone in that Monday and been ok. Moving slowly, probably a bit of pain as Tylenol and/or Advil did not help me much. But I could have done it. That being said, I've heard others on here say they needed a full 2 weeks and some say they went back to work within a couple days. So it's hard to say how well you will do. Oh, I also had a hernia repair (doc says about 50% patients need this) so that made my recovery a little longer. Good luck!

Get a nice gentle stool softener. That is what I used. By the next day I was moving just fine. The brand I bought was Senna Plus. Good luck!

There is one in my doctors office called Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies Cookbook or something like that. It covers other surgeries as well, but is specific to the requirements of Lap Band vs Gastric Bypass. I'm going to go find that one myself.

Wow! I'm so sorry you had to go through that. If you are ready to make this change for YOU then the first change you need to make is to get rid of the negativity around you. You have the right to be happy. If it makes you happy to go through with the process, then who is he to tell you no? Who is he to put you down. Now, I don't know you, but you will need to commit to this. It's not the "easy" way, by any means. You will need will power and the strength of your conviction to do this. You need to be doing this for you. No one else. You are the only one that can answer those questions. I decided it was "me time". I have spent most of my life caring for everyone around me. It was time for me. My husband was not happy about it, and is still not happy. But I am very committed and will argue around his every complaint and he is slowly believing I am going to do this. Do this for YOU. Don't let ANYONE walk on you. You deserve more respect than that. everyone does! Good luck on your journey!

Protien will help you with your energy. Also make sure you are taking your Vitamins and add a B12 to the mix. That will help as well. I used the Atkins shakes, but found the Protein powders (yuck!) would take me more hours than the Atkins. I also mixed in Carnation Instant Breakfast too, but again, Atkins was better than those, and the protein powders better than Atkins. If you need a big burst, take one of those shakes with a cottage cheese or yogurt (greek works the best as it has most protein). I did not feel really hungry on my liquid diet. Yes I wanted to chew, but hunger was not an issue. Supplement all of those with chicken broth or beef broth. Both of those have no limits (on my diet) and kept me sipping/drinking. I'd fill a thermos with hot Soup broth and just sip it like coffee throughout the day. Good luck! Nicole (day 8 post op)

Hi there. I too had the same experience. I wanted to burp so bad, was even jealous of people complaining about burping too much! But the pressure just kept building. I felt like a balloon being blown up. The 3rd-4th days were the worst. I was taking Gas x strips too, you can take up to 4 strips in a dose. I also took a stool softener as I think I was constipated so blocked both ways! I was one of those that HAD to keep taking my meds. I so wanted to be one of the lucky ones that when home a day or two in and I could just stop taking the medicine. Nope, I took the full dose every 4 hours or I was in agony. I realized that there was no point in being in pain, so just take them. I am about 8 days out now and feel so much better. About Day 5 I finally moved my bowels and oh oh oh did I feel better. Like the ballon got a slow leak and all the pressure slowly drained away. I still get the shoulder pain, especially at night, and I just take the meds to get rid of it. I walk around the house all the time. I can assure you that each day will get better now that you are over the hump. Good luck and you WILL get through. Regarding feeling your band. My doctor told me in the hospital I was "a bit snug" so I could in fact feel my band. Every swallow of Water I could feel trickle through. Even now when I'm on mushies, I feel the food go through. But as my band site is healing it is not so painful. i still take a few meds (blood pressure and thyroid) that are in pill form and I can feel them pop through the band. So I belive you can in fact feel it. The left side pain, however is the port likely. It will get better. Just keep to the mushies so that the healing can really and truly get done. Don't "test" the band just yet. It's there, you know it as you can feel it.

Same, I have a burning sensation in the port area when I move the wrong way. Usually its the worst first thing in the morning. I will say that each morning it gest better. I had surgery on 25th, so I'm 8 days out? 4 days out I was pretty sore in that area. My incisions have never really bothered me, but I can poke at the port and it will burn (I learned early not to do that!).

I too have the flexibility to work at home and I took the first week off. i worked Monday, surgery on Tuesday and took the rest of the week off. I started yesterday (Monday) working at home. I had to take some breaks, but otherwise have not had problems. I'm 7 days post op and feel fairly good. I was not one of the lucky ones that had a day or two of pain then nothing, I still have a little pain, but it gets better daily. i would NOT want to be in the car all day even now. i go back to work in the office next week Tuesday (Monday I get my staples removed, yay!) Good luck!

Little sips. Try to get 1 tablespoon down an hour. Call your doc. I was also "snug" after surgery and it was tough. Warm (not hot) chicken broth helped as well.

Good luck Raven and Carollee! You both will be fine. I'm a bit sore today, I think because all the "good" meds have been used up. I'm now just taking tylenol. It's not really pain it's more just soreness. Too many sit ups kind of sore. I can feel how snug I am because when I take sips of water I can feel it go down. I think I'll be one of those that in the mornings wake up snug. It's not as tight now. Warm tea (not hot), chicken broth and water today. I have gas bubbles in my tummy and every time they try to go up for a burp that hurts something fierce. But it goes back down and now I feel it working the other direction. Yay! How weird that I would rather,...well you get the picture. The stomach cavity gas is still there, but I can usually alleviate it with a heating pad and walking around. So day 2 post op and I'm still feeling great. See you too on this side very soon!

I was banded yesterday and am feeling great. There were 5 of us at the hospital all getting the procedure done and everyone seemed good with the pain etc. We were talking in the hallway waiting for our barium swallows. Anyway, surgery was pretty easy. I don't remember the operating room or the recovery room really. I did have pain and told her (I vaguely remember this) I was a 6 in pain. After recovery went to my room (I was staying overnight) and was settled in. Didn't sleep much due to the constant monitoring of blood pressure, meds. Came home today about about 9am. Been taking my roxicet and have now broken out in a rash. Hot itchy rash. Called the doc, he said to stop the roxicet and start on a tylenol/advil combination (2 tsp each). Benedryl for the allergic reaction. So my sweet hubby went out and got all meds. HOwever every freakign store closes at 10 and he went out at 10 to 10, so he got to one store before it closed. Called me to ask wehre the nearest 24 hour place was. They were out of all benedryl except the liquid tablets. Nothing liquid or melting. So I had to skip that. So I sit here itching and waiting for this to go away. Every 4 hours I start to have pain. So am hoping that the tylenol/advil will work as well as the roxicet did (minus the rash of course). The gas pain was bad earlier, but I fell asleep with a heating pad and it has been pretty much gone. The great news is that I havent felt hungry all day. I am drinking tons of Water, some apple juice and had a 1/2 cup of chicken broth, but otherewise,just keep forgetting that I should eat. The doc did say I was "pretty snug" so that is likely why. I expect this period of "yes!" to go away with the swelling. Hope all is well with the others that banded with me yesterday! Talk you soon.

my story has disappered on my twice so I'll write more late. Ok, trying this a third time. Had surgery on Jan 25. Went into the hospital a little early and was told the surgeon was running ahead of schedule. Cool! So stripped down, in to the johnny, iv in, fluids started swallowed the adavan (mmm relaxed). Got tons of meds for anti nasea and a shot in the belly for the blood clots. My little leg balloons were put on and not too much later, after a quick chat with the Anathesiologist (she says I got an A+) I was on my way. I only remember getting into the OR and thinking it was very busy! Lots of people milling around. Then that's it. Don't remember anything after that. My recovery I don't remember much about either. I do remember having to go to the bathroom really bad. They were not really hurrying so I had to remind them I had to go. They didn't want me trying to get up so they had to slip a bed pan under. Well by that time I really had to go! I think I overflowed it. Nurses had to clean up a mess. Oops. LOL. Sorry TMI... Then a bit later I remember one of the nurses walking me to the bathroom. I went again a lot. That's what they get for pumping me full of liquids. My husband and daughter visited me in the recovery room, but I don't remember. I do remember them visiting once I was settled into my room for the night. Pain was not bad. I did use that button though. When I got home, I was using the Roxicet and either that or something they gave me in the hospital caused an all over rash. Stopped the Roxicet, but am still in pain. Tylenol and advil don't really touch it. The gas is much much better. That was most of the pain. Not the gas they pump into your abdomen (although still have a little of that lingering) but the gas in my bowels. I ended up taking a ton of gas X strips and then took stool softeners and a gentle laxitive. Yesterday FINALLY I was able to pass gas and move the bowels. I know again TMI, but it was such a relief!!! I wasn't able to belch or the other it was just stuck and I felt like I was blowing up like a balloon. It is now day 4 post op and I feel better. As stated I still have some lingering pain. I had a hiatal hernia which I think is the cause of the shoulder pain. Outside of that, I feel great. Ok, off to take a shower. Nicole

Today is the day! I leave at 10 to get to the hospital at 11 for a 1:30 surgery. Will be staying over night and coming home tomorrow by 9am ish. Gulps. Nervous!! Good luck to all who are being banded today! Talk later! Nicole

Sounds like an allergic reaction. I would switch to a different type of protein shake. Or even go with the no sugar carnation instant breakfast for a day or so. Call your doctor see what he/she says.

Protein helps. As much as you can get and it will take you to the next 4 hour period. I would drink an atkins shake, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese or 6 oz of yogurt (chobani is my fav) and then whatever of the s/f jello/popsicles/soda or broth you want. I have lost 10 points on this and have been while not happy with the foods, certainly satisfied. What I have found most interesting is to track your "head hunger". After you have eaten your food, and gotten plenty of protein to take you 4 hours, if you find yourself thinking of food, why? Are you really hungry or are you just wanting to chew. To taste? That is head hunger and it is a great time to start recognizing this little devil as it will be our friends during Band Hell. Good luck! Oh by the way, surgery is tomorrow and I'm 10 pounds lighter! Yay. Nicole